High winds and hail at the weekend have been threatening Spanish grape, stonefruit and citrus crops.
According to growers’ association Asaja Murcia, sporadic storms on Saturday, Sunday and Monday have struck citrus and table grapes in Alhama and Librilla and apricot, peach, plum and nectarine orchards in Abaran, Blanca and Cieza.
Secretary general Alfonso Gálvez Caravaca said: “Once again, the weather has taken it out on our production and at a time when it is not exactly enjoying one of its most profitable spells.
“We hope that the weather over the coming days and weeks does not further prejudice a stonefruit campaign that was looking very positive but is now under threat, not just from the rain and hailstorms at the weekend but also the high winds that have been blowing through the region that could also damage trees.”
Agronomists are still in the fields assessing the full impact of the storms.
Meanwhile, in Andalusia, the effects of a cold, wet spring are not having as great an impact as first feared and the reduction in production and delays to the start of the season initially forecast are being revised, according to regional publication La Onda de Andalucia.
